


you are the roof when i rain

by joppers



Category: The Haunting of Hill House (TV 2018)
Genre: F/M, Olivia Crain's Mother, Pre-Series, aka Olivia's mother is a piece of work, just here for tiny bb!crain fam fluff, there's a whole story here but that's another story entirely
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-20 16:40:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18996490
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joppers/pseuds/joppers
Summary: Olivia runs into a part of her past; Hugh catches her when the storm hits later.





	you are the roof when i rain

**Author's Note:**

> So I got an ask prompt for "Why wasn't I invited to your wedding?" and I chose to use it for Liv/Hugh because I have a lot of Thoughts about their early days. The title is from a poem.

It’s been a _long_ day.

Steve was teething and moody, whining throughout the grocery store as Olivia tried to speed through getting the essentials while fighting through a wave of nausea, as her second pregnancy hadn’t gifted her with morning sickness, but afternoon sickness. Hugh had been away for the last three days, trying to scope out their next move, and Olivia was more than ready for him to come home.

“I promise we’re almost done, sweetheart. Just let Mama finish,” Olivia stroked a hand over Steven’s head and he sniffled, burying his hands in the folks of her dress as she picked a few more apples and placed them in a plastic bag.

She powers her way through the rest of the items on the list and checks out with minimal complaint from Steve, and just as she’s pulling him from the cart, settling him on her hip around the noticeable bump in her middle, she hears her name.

“Olivia?” she freezes at the familiar voice, and Steve pats her face, humming. She turns slowly, adjusting her son in her arms as she comes face to face with the person walking towards her.

“Hello, Mother,” she keeps her voice flat and controlled, and Judith Thomas stands before her for the first time in over eight years.

“Olivia, sweetheart- how long have you been back?” her mother asks, and Olivia stiffens when she steps closer, clutching Steven closer to her.

“We were here while Hugh had a job. We’ll be gone soon,” Olivia answers through clenched teeth, and Steven burrows a little further into her, tiny fingers twining in her hair. “You can pretend you never saw me.”

“Olivia, _please_ ,” for the first time in her life, there’s begging in her mother’s voice, and Olivia wavers, her shoulders loosening slightly. “Won’t you just talk to me?”

“What for, Mother? So we can fight more? So you can criticize my choices again?” Olivia asks, unable to keep the exhaustion out of her voice. Steven fidgets and Olivia shifts him, wincing slightly before he settles. “You did enough of that the last time we saw each other for a lifetime, I think.”

“And I’ve regretted everything that happened that day since,” Judith tells her earnestly, hands clasped before her, and Olivia’s lips press into a thin line. “You disappeared for eight years. Why wasn’t I invited to your wedding? You- you have a son, Livvie.”

Steve nudges his head into Olivia’s jaw and she strokes his back, sighing softly.

“His name is Steven,” she says, and Judith takes another half-step closer, lip trembling slightly. “He’s almost three, and his favorite person in the world is his father. Hugh. My husband.”

Her voice hardens the more she talks, anger filling her once more as she thinks back to the last conversation she and her mother had had- the one that had pushed her out of her childhood home forever, and into the life she wouldn’t trade for the world. The life that she had with Hugh; the one they’d built together, from the ground up.

“Hugh, who is an amazing father, and a wonderful husband, and the love of my life,” Olivia continues, volume increasing as her mother seems to shrink before her. “You weren’t inviting to my wedding, Mother, because you told me the man I was in love with would never be able to provide for me, or keep me safe, or happy- all of which he has done in spades since the day I left.”

She breathes deeply through her nose, trying to calm the anger pulsing inside her. Red rises from her toes, filtering through her temples, and she touches her nose to Steve’s temple, inhaling his scent briefly.

“I’m happy in my life, Mother. I have Hugh, and Steve, and a new baby, and a life I love. And you’re no longer in it. You told me that as long as Hugh was in my life I was no longer welcome under your roof- and Hugh _is_ my life now. He’s infused into every part of it,” Olivia can’t help but smile when she thinks about Hugh, warmth filling her chest. “I need to get my son home. Please don’t look us up.”

She allows herself one last look at the woman who’d given her life- the same brunette locks, hers cut short near her jaw where Olivia’s fell to nearly her waist; the wide olive eyes, hers filled with what Olivia selfishly hoped were regretful tears; the curved jaw and slim shoulders. Then she turns on her heel, hoists her son higher on her hip, and quickly settles them both into the car and gets them home.

Olivia nearly sobs in relief at the sight of Hugh standing in the kitchen when she opens the door. He takes one look at her and instantly as Steven out of her arms, wrapping her up in his free one; holding her against him as she shudders in dry sobs.

“Hey- hey. What happened?” he asks, stroking her hair gently as he tilts her head back until he can look into her eyes. His search hers for a moment before he presses his lips to her forehead. “I’m gonna put Stevie down for a nap, then we can talk about it. Alright?”

Olivia nods, and Hugh squeezes her waist gently before he slips down the hall, talking quietly to Steve, who was already nuzzling sleepily into his shoulder.

She puts the groceries away, keeping her hands busy, and when Hugh returns, she reaches for him instantly, hands tangling in the loose flannel shirt he has on over a plain blue shirt. This time, tears pool in her eyes, and she buries her face in the folds of his shirt to inhale the scent of him.

“I saw my mother,” she whispers, voice thick as it leaves her throat. Hugh’s hands are warm at her back, one moving to cup the back of her head gently.

“Lived here over a year without a sighting and now two weeks before we leave she pops up,” Hugh murmurs, and Olivia lets out a choked laugh. “You alright, sweetheart?”

“I never wanted to see her again,” she admits, finding his fingers and twining them together. “I left that house, and I left her. She doesn’t have any right to what we have here. What we made.”

She guides their hands to the soft swell of her belly, Hugh’s hand warm and protective through her dress.

“I found a job up in New York,” Hugh tells her, and Olivia pulls back to meet his eyes, lifting a hand to cup his cheek. “It’ll take about a year, but it’s a three bedroom house and it’s got a huge backyard.”

Olivia smiled, and lifted onto her toes to kiss him.

“It sounds perfect,” she said, and kissed him again. “You’re perfect. I love you. So much.”

“I love you too, Liv,” Hugh replied, tucking her hair behind her ear with a smile, and she leaned into his palm, kissing his thumb.

“What’dya say we take advantage of this quiet time, huh?” she asks, tugging at his shirt as she lifts an eyebrow, a smile playing on her lips. Hugh’s own face breaks out into a grin, and his hands fall to her waist, tugging her to him as they tiptoe down the hallway as quietly as they can, shutting their bedroom door quietly.

“Have I told you how beautiful you are?” Hugh asks, finger stroking over her bare shoulder and slipping beneath the thin strap of her dress. Olivia smiled, tilting her head back against the covers and watching him.

“You can always say it again,” she tells him, voice soft, and Hugh lifts himself up, kissing up her sternum and over her chin until he finds her mouth once more.

“You are so beautiful,” he murmurs against her skin, and her eyes sink shut. “And I’m so lucky to have you in my life.”

“Easiest choice I’ve ever made,” she whispers back, cupping his cheeks until she can brush her thumbs over the bones.

Hugh smiled, kissing her palm before he leaned down and captured her mouth once more, letting his weight press down into her and swallowing her laughter that bubbled up.


End file.
